Sävar

A trip to the village of Sävar was on today's schedule. Sävar is situated about 20 km north east of Umeå and is mostly known to be the place where the last fight against the Russians took place 200 years ago when Sweden lost Finland. We might go back later in August for the celebration of the 200 year period of peace. We didn't see much of any 19th century theme at today's market, but we strolled around anyway in the village and among the stands.

It was peaceful to walk next to the Sävar river, but we felt that the water was too cold to swim in (some youngsters didn't agree). A canoe trip later in the summer might be nice, though.

Brännboll World Cup

Today was the first day we tried on the shorts so far this year (the temperature rose to about 25 C). We decided to watch the Brännboll World Cup at the Mariehems meadows. Brännboll is very similar to baseball we guess, but with less complicated score system/statistics. We were there a couple of hours, then lunch at home before we returned for the finals. As can be seen in one of the pictures, some of the teams were more in it for the fun than to try to win.

Never ending evening

Grill party tonight with the choir Olle joined a couple of months ago. After the dinner everybody gathered around the fire place and songs in four part harmonies were sung until it was too cold to stay (lovely to listen, Maria thought).
To stay until it gets dark doesn't work too well here in the northern part of Sweden during the summer. Because of the clear skies, it never really gets dark, not even in the middle of the night (the photo is from 1 am). So using that rule, you will stay up all night long.

The fun has an end

This morning not all were awake for breakfast at standard time (7:30 am). Anyway, Maria's sister was up in time to help putting the breakfast on the table, like all other mornings (some people are early birds).
Today we had a more complete cleaning of the interior of the ship, before we started sailing.
We sailed some hours before lunch and ended with a man-over-board exercise, were our knowledge about how to haul the sails were tested.
In the afternoon the sailing trip ended with group photo and hugs.

After that, it was time for a car trip back to Småland, followed by train traveling to the north. On the train Maria felt untidy, even if the reason was more being out in the wind for a long time, than actually being dirty. There was a lot of time during the evening/night/morning to read and try to get some hours of sleep. Since Maria caught a late train, she had to change to a bus ride in Sundsvall (slow last hours of the trip).

A sunny day on the waves

Sailing south all the day and in the outer parts of the coast line with the wind coming from the side, meant not much to do with the sails (just smaller adaptations). Enjoying the open sea in different ways were one kind of entertainment we had. We also had a practical lecture in how to do the most useful knots.

Out on the open sea with a lot of waves, we had lunch up on deck. You do what you can to avoid getting sea sick, even if some brave persons took care of the dishes under deck afterward.
Sun all day meant that many of us were pretty red in the faces in the evening. Quite windy though, so you needed to wear clothes (i. e., no bikinis).

In the evening we enjoyed our last dinner together, including wine (we had ended the sailing for the day). Afterward most of the crew went for a beer (or two) in a local pub. Thanks to us the dance floor filled up during the night. Not so early to bed, it will be some tired faces tomorrow I guess.

Culture night and grill party

Today it was time for the culture event of the year in Umeå, the so called Culture Night. Olle went downtown around 9:15 in the morning to catch the boat tour to the construction site for the new railroad bridge over the Umeå river, only to find the tour totally full. Instead I biked along the river upstreams for the first time. When I came back to the city, the first events was about to begin. I listened to a cover band playing Bon Jovi tunes, but they weren't really that good. After that I decided to give the boat tour another shot, since I was quite close to the the dock I could as well try it before I went home. Luckily, I took the last spot this time.

During the late afternoon it rained quite a bit. Around eight I went to a grill party, the first one for me this season. I didn't know that many people, but it was fun anyway. Closer to midnight the air was colder than the moisture in the grass, which led to mist drifting around. Almost like a fairy tale.

Seven sails forward

It must have been impressing to see the big ship leaving the harbor powered only by the wind in the sails. It was good to have an experienced crew, who could organize us. This is a beautiful part of sailing.

A day with some sun and some rain in between. Like the other days not so warm (~15C). This day brought a little bit more wind, since we were not just among a lot of islands but also on some open sea.

As the other days we had morning coffee, lunch and afternoon coffee with newly-baked cake (or buns) during the day, followed by dinner in the evening. Regarding the food way we had a luxury weekend, eating much more good food then in a normal week. It's good that you had to work hard in between the meals, to consume all the calories.

Tonight we arrived to the night harbor a little earlier, which gave us time for other activities. We launched the small boat for another kind of sailing, where you directly notice the effects of turning in different wind directions. Agreeing about how to handle the small boat was not something the sisters did all the time, but we're still friends afterward at least.

The evening ended with storytelling with the whole crew crowded in the smaller captain cabin.

Wood work in the woods

While Maria was sailing, Olle did some other stuff. Today he followed his relatives in the city out in the woods. The work planned was to equip a hunting tower with a better roof. We nailed together some boards in a frame, which was then covered with tar paper. Hopefully much better than the thin plastic the roof consisted of earlier.

A Gratitude day

Breakfast at 7.30 and some cleaning of the interior of the ship started the day.
Then it was time to sail, which meant everyone needed to help with the hoisting of the sails. Everything is done manually on the ship (except the boat engine). Later in the day we learned the technique a bit more, so you could help even if you didn't have too much of strength.







In the afternoon we passed between larger islands and the sea was calm. A good time to climb up in the mast, when the ship was not leaning back and forth to the sides. Together with one of the crew members Maria went up and it was a nice idea to bring the camera, since the view from up there was amazing. Although it's not good to be afraid of heights, or you have to face it (I'm proud of you sis!). A bit scary Maria has to agree, but it was totally worth it.
Up in the mast the view of the boat were completely different from the one you get on the deck.


Maria also got some nice views of the landscape.

Maria didn't climb up more times during the weekend, but others did. Someone needed to go up there to hoist (or lower) the top sail, independent of the amounts of waves for the moment. It was good that we had some brave ones among us.

During the evening we sisters took an hour-long walk around the island. Several trees were in bloom, like chestnut ("kastanj") and fruit trees. The flat rocks just invited you to enjoy them, nicely colored with flowers like meadow saxifrage ("mandelblomma") and some chive-relative.

We arrived to an island harbor, where quite many sail boats were as well this early in the season. We didn't want to think about how crowded it would be in the summer time.








Unfortunately, when you are sailing the boat yourself it's hard to get a picture of the ship with all sails in use - you are too close. So the only picture of the entire ship is in the harbor with no sails up, but the ship is amazing then as well.







Relaxing on the deck of the ship during the evening you realize that being close to the nature is amazing. Among (new) friends you can't do otherwise than enjoying your life. Looking at the sunset wasn't wrong at all, the planned shower could wait.

A weekend for us sisters

Around ten the long train trip finally ended and she got a short time together with her sister's family. Training for show jumping with one of the Shetland ponies was on the schedule for her niece, nice to watch how easily she handled the horse.
Then a 2½-hour car ride to Gothenburg was next and we two sisters had some time for private conversation, really nice after living so far apart for a couple of years.
During the evening we "moved in" on the ship Gratitude together with four other participants and nine crew members. The boat were going to be our home for the long weekend.
We introduced ourselves and sailed some hours before we harbored an island. During the dinner the chief on board had prepared, we all started to know each other.

Gratitude is a 23.7 m long English fishing cutter built in 1903, but nowadays a sailing ship for crew and sailing school participants.
(Picture from the website of the Sailing school of the Swedish sailing club).






Something that struck Maria when she came to the southern parts of Sweden was how much greener it was everywhere. Not so strange considering the fact that the snow melted a month earlier than up in the north. Also several flowers were in bloom already, like the Forget-me-not and the lilacs ("syren") we saw a lot during the weekend.

The night on a train

Around 9 pm Maria took the night-train to the south. The train trip started with going inland, passing Vännäs. Maria updated herself about some sea terms, before the dusk arrived and she joined the sleeping crowd.

Maria got at least a few hours of sleep, interrupted by waking up and changing the sit position. Not too comfortable sleeping in the train chairs, when you don't have sleeping car space.



She woke up in time for the sunrise, here seen in Bollnäs (4 am) and over Gävleån (5 am).









At half past six the next morning it was time to change train in Stockholm, where she also ate her the breakfast she brought from home.

Sunset from the balcony

Our balcony is facing north, but at least we can enjoy some "sun" from it. At 10.30 tonight we couldn't resist the nice colors. Still pretty light outside at this time.

UPSC anniversary

Today Umeå Plant Science Center celebrated the 10 years of existence. Several seminars during the day included some history about the center, as well as discussions about the future.
For Maria it was a good timing to hear some background of the working place.
During the evening there was a dinner, a nice day without any lab work. She also met one more group member, who is on maternity leave.

Garden work

Today it was time to visit Olle's cousin (the one with kids), who lives closer to the sea not far from Umeå. The trip only took about 20 minutes by car, and we actually found the house without that much trouble. The program for the visit was some work in their garden. We spread manure in the potato plot and moved around a couple of stones that will be used to mark the border of the property. Nice day to be outside, Olle forgot to bring a hat but could borrow one, otherwise he would have been quite burned.

Yes, green trees

... at least the trees start to develop leaves. The mountain ash ("rönn") is earlier than the birch.


During our trip downtown, we enjoyed the first icecream of the year. Sunny, but a little cold (around 12C). The view is the City Hall Boulevard with the train station at the end.

Last snow...

On the way home from work Maria saw some small patches of snow next to the biking path. It's in the woods, but not in a hidden/shady place. Anyway, in the middle of May it is quite late to see snow (we are not living in the mountains).
(When passing the same spot following Monday the snow was gone).

The following three pictures are taken from our living room during April (10th, 20th and 30th).






The last picture is taken Tuesday this week (12th of May) :-)

Leave buds start to burst

The spring is slowly coming to northern Sweden as well. The birches will probably get greener in the nearest weeks.
Some smaller bushes on the way home from Maria's work have started developing leaves.

To the sea

We decided to take a bike ride to the north east of the city this afternoon. There is a bike path along the main highway (E4:an) to the north which we decided to try today. Close to the nature, but also to all the cars. (The photo is taken when the bike path was on a country road.)






At one point we took the road to Täfteå, where we thought we would see the sea, the Gulf of Bothnia. Unfortunately, we might have taken the wrong street in that village, because we just got to the inner harbor.
On the way back to Umeå we had the wind right in our faces most of the time, hard work. Anyway we came home and felt good being outside exercising for a while, as well as enjoying the spring weather.

Finally, two armchairs

Before we arrived in the apartment, we didn't know how much space we would have for an extra sofa or armchair. Therefore, we didn't buy anything to bring with the load of furniture from southern Sweden. Having spent some time here now, we realized that another arm chair would be perfect for the living room. The problem was that we needed a car to bring it home (unless you would like to carry it for a really long distance, not so fun). But, since that was solved a couple of days ago, we decided to order the chair and today it was time to pick it up. We had booked a trailer, but we didn't need it, the box fit in the trunk of the car.
Then the big assembly party started. It was a lot of screws to fasten before the chair looked like the one in the store, and we guess it might have been quite difficult to do it alone. A couple of hours later we could relax in one armchair each for the first time.

Large grocery shopping

Up until now, we have been biking to the grocery stores. You don't get that much in your bag each time this way, but at least some exercise . Today it was time to take the car on it's first real trip, the destination was the shopping center in the southern end of the city that we visited two weeks ago. We spent a couple of hours inside the grocery store, since it was the first time we did some real shopping there (last time we only bought some lunch to go).
Many of the grocery stores in Sweden have the feature ("ShopExpress") that you can scan the price tag on the food yourself before you put it in the bag. This way, it is easy to put fridge stuff in one bag, freezer goods in another and so on. At the checkout, you just put the scanner in a stand and pay. Of course you can cheat, but once in a while the automatic checkout will direct you to an ordinary checkout, where you will have to let the clerk scan everything again. And, if the goods scanned does not match with the manual scanning, you will experience this sample check even more often (I don't think that you will be rejected from the store though, at least not after the first time...). We didn't see a system like this in the US, just the one where you scan everything yourself at the checkout, but in that case you don't save that much time compared to the mentioned system.

Our new car!

A couple of weeks ago we decided to buy a new car. This afternoon we picked up the Skoda Fabia Combi. Not too big, not too small. As for now, we will mostly use it to go shopping, but if Olle finds a job outside the city, it will come handy then too. We will also have the opportunity to explore the interior of our county (that is, the mountain range bordering Norway) in a much easier way now.
Up here, all rented parking stalls, with or without roof, have outlets for engine block heaters. Necessary during the long, cold winter that we have yet to experience.

House warming dinner

Now, when we have been living here for a little bit more than a month, it was time to invite Olle's uncle and the cousins with families to the apartment to show them how we have managed to make it a little bit more suitable to live in compared to when we arrived. Yesterday we spent most of the day baking (both dinner rolls and some cinnamon rolls, besides a cake), this morning we did the cooking (lasagna, a good dish that serves many).
Five in the afternoon the guests arrived. The children's parents tried to make the apartment child proof, we had moved most of the smallest, most sensible stuff away from grabbing height. But still there were some interesting things to find for the kids, like the shelf with CDs and a video to "test".

Spring cleaning followed by some fresh air

We started this day with some cleaning of the apartment. We have been a little bit lazy with this since we arrived, but now it was time to really get it done. Nice to have a vacuum cleaner in working condition, compared to the one we had in Madison. The only thing with this one is the high pitched noise from it, but the cleaning is good. We also placed the two rugs we bought yesterday in the office and the living room.
To reward ourselves after the cleaning, we took a bike ride around Nydalasjön. There were a lot of people moving around the lake, some of them just strolling while others were grilling. It seems to be a popular recreation area, especially since it is so close to the city.

Even if the lake is still covered with ice, we could find some spring signs, like this willow.